Dear Diana,

The problem began when I responded to Starhub's promotion on 5/11/08 and applied for the digital voice modem to replace Singtel as my current ground line provider.

1st Bad Experience

The appointment was 24/2 between 6.30pm to 8.00pm. On 24/2 (was incorrectly report as 28/2), I was called out from my management meeting at about 1.00pm because my mother informed me that your staff decided to pay us a visit at 2.00pm that day 'because he was near us'. Even after I had contacted 1633 to question the decision to unilaterally change the schedule and asked them to instruct your staff to adhere to the schedule, he appeared at my home at 2.00pm and I had to take both my mother's call and your service staff's, and to manage these calls I was pulled out of the meeting three times.

What is the purpose of having a schedule when it cannot be kept?

2nd Bad Experience

Thinking all was well with the set up, I only began using the Internet on Sunday, 1/3. When I switched on my laptop and attempted to access my email on the Internet, I was kept being directed to your 'pay as you surf' webpage. My default home page points to Google but the IE kept referring me to your 'pay as you surf' page.

I called 1633 and it took me almost 30 minutes to reach your staff. He was unable to help me and told me that he had to check with some other department to find out about what had went wrong with my modem and server. I am unsure if your staff had called me as promised but I had a 'private number' missed call. As I was rushing off for an appointment, I couldn't afford to call back. It costs me about S$8 to take a cab to catch up the lost time because of all the waiting time with Starhub.

Why does it take so long to reach your support staff?

Isn't there another way I could call back for an emergency?

3rd Bad Experience

I came back home at about 9.00pm, 1/3, and made another attempt to reach your customer service staff at 1633. The situation had turned from bad to worse. It took me almost 45 minutes to reach your staff. What is going on with Starhub? If your cost cutting strategy is to cut the number of your staff manning the phone drastically, I suggest that you shut the entire help line down. Maintaining your line open creates expectations, which cannot be met, and your suggestions of using the fax to reach your staff is just madness since how many households keeps a fax machine and when I cannot even get to the Internet, the use of your email is just wishful thinking.

Your night staff was more learned and, unlike your afternoon staff, was able to immediately identify the problem. He had reactivated my old modem and now, after all the costs involved, I could write you this email using my Pacnet account.

However, on thinking this a bit further, why didn't your staff told me that the old modem will be disconnected when the digital voice model has been linked up? There are a lot of things your staff did not tell me when he visited my on the last day of Feb 09.

Diana,

I think something is seriously very wrong with the service your company is providing and I am seriously reconsidering if I want to continue using Starhub.

I need an explanation for all these.

Also, I need you to compensate me for the cost for delays, reaching you and the potential loss of business. The transportation cost and phone bill is not much and a company of your size is capable of repaying me but if I loss my deal, Starhub will be responsible.

I like to know when you will be free this week. I like to suggest a meeting with you on these matters and to discuss the reimbursement of the costs involved.

Do let Tong Hai know of these too. I think your COO does not really know the challenges and frustrations happening at the ground.  

I was reading Low Lin Fhoong’s article on ‘Olympic Report Card – No Excuses, SailingSailing; Chef-de-mission Tan feels NSA should own up after poor performance in Qingdao’ (Sports Section, Today, Wednesday, 17 September 2008). I want to share my views about Dr Tan Eng Liang’s comments.

I know that Dr Tan was displease with SingaporeSailing’s report but being a sailor myself, I know we faces challenges in our physical make-up, experience and luck in the sport. Unlike those who were competing in a controlled environment, our sailors had no control over wind, wave and current at the sailing arena. These create new dimensions in the sport and the sailors had to work hard to win given these constraints. While we could discount these as excuses but they are there and should be acknowledged, and I think this was what the sports association attempted to do.

By saying ‘but if you come in 42 out of 43, what is there to argue?’ he has discounted the years of efforts these sailors and SingaporeSailing have given to Singapore in bringing sailing to where it is today.

Dr Tan should have checked the time the 42^nd boat had taken to cross the finishing line at each race before making that remark. Maybe he was elated with what he brought back for Singapore that he had forgotten himself. As Chef-de-mission, Tan has to exercise extreme care in the words he used to avoid sending the wrong messages to the public and hurt those who had worked very hard to represent Singapore.

In this aspect, I am very pleased and gratified with what has happened in the sailing community. Each year, hundreds of sailors, from as young as 8, learn sailing from their school and at their sailing clubs. They are grouped into squads with dedicated coaches working with them on their techniques. Regularly, there are in-house races and national competitions where they hone their skills and measure themselves with their peers. SingaporeSailing maintains a table of national ranking for all competing sailors, and the top few get to join the national team for further development. We work our way up, and our coaches and clubs have tirelessly providing and facilitating our progression.

In this home grown thriving and competitive environment, we have answers to the question of who are going to succeed the current patch Olympian sailors when they retire.

Yes, I am disappointed with the performance of our sailors, unlike the biggest winner in this year’s Olympic, I am very proud of them. Our peddlers deserved to be applauded for bringing in the medals but this is transactional in nature because it was set up this way when they came to Singapore. This has nothing to do with whether they are locals or otherwise. It is about the nature of the agreement and the corresponding national expectations they produce..

The outcome has proven that this arrangement does provide good returns. However, it has long term impact. We do not who are going to succeed these peddlers in the future. I will be vexed if their NSA brings in another batch of imported players at the expense of sacrificing talents that could be found in the local community.

It is good to give each sportsman and sports association have performance indicators, and I agree that what gets measured gets done but it is more important that they are doing the right things when meeting these national expectations. I am seeing that the sailing community is doing the right things. I definitely prefer we do not win any medals and do the right things than to do the wrong things in order to bluff ourselves of our sporting power.

Our sailors were called on to represent Singapore at the Games. They had considered and took on the challenge. This was an agreement they made with their sporting community and the nation. They could choose not to but they did not and they do it out of their love for the sport. This is most honorable. When they do not perform as expected, they and their sports association are chilled. There is something very wrong in this equation. I hope that in the process of hunting the witch we do not end up frightening aspiring sportsmen and women from taking up the challenge for representing the country called Singapore.

I hope the next Olympic Chef-de-mission will be more enlightened when he is preparing his report after the 2012's Game.

This is bus-stop that is built near my house.

It looks new but practically a waste of tax-payer's money. Once the sun passes noon, we have to hide one corner. To save money, maybe the seats should be taken out. Afterall, metal is expensive. Maybe, let's stop building bus-stops altogether.

Because my workplace is just next to the Singapore River, I can vouch that the river regularly presents herself in three forms.

On a good day, she is green and inviting.

After a island-wide rain, the river turn muddy brown.

And she really smells when the water went still. Maybe, this is a result of having the river damned at the mouth.

We are well provided for by the Government but getting to these provisions is really a drag and one of these provisions are the tables and chairs at the food courts (public eating places). There is a 'table & chair reservation' culture in the country and Singaporeans use this norm to 'fight' over who has the right to the chairs and tables. Let me show you some examples of this norms in action.

Reserving the Seat	Reserving the Table	Reserving the Section

I do not care about this norm since I do not agree with this act of selfishness. I just push the tissue packs aside and sit down to have my meal because I do not take more than 10 minutes to have my lunch, the same 10 minutes where these seats and tables are occupied by tissue papers without their owners around.

Afternote:

Recently, I saw the ultimate table reservation technique!

Are Singaporeans third world citizens in a first world country? I think so and here is my experience.

I am now at Pacific Coffee Café at VivoCity and I experienced an ungracious treatment by a Singaporean, who I think is a bad role model for everyone.

There are (I am using 'are' because they are still sitting beside me as I am writing this) two person sitting at a set of two sofas meant for three person and I went over asking if I could use the sofa since they are not occupying it (they placed a laptop bag on the sofa, another typical practice of Singaporeans). They looked unhappy about me asking for the chair but reluctantly agreed to let me have it since there are only two of them.

When I was back from the ordering counter, the woman demanded that I go away as she feared I was going to disturb them doing something on the laptop, and threaten that they will leave the café if I am going to sit down. They demanded that I go elsewhere as they were at the café first.

I held my ground as I had asked for permission before I put my stuffs down on the sofa to do my order. I couldn't  see I  how I could be intruding. Of course an argument followed and she told me I could sit but I should 'shut-up' so I don't disturb them. How rude and I told her that.

I decided to ask the manager of the resturant to have the table and sofa separated. I could only remember that the woman shouting to the staff wanting her to deal with me as I was helping the staff moving the furniture about.

What an experience!

I know Singapore is very small and her population is growing by leaps and bounds. In this growth, Singaporeans will definitely face scarcity - not enough of space to stand in the trains, not enough of seats in the buses, not enough of a lot of things, of which finding and securing a comfortable space in a café to enjoy a cup of tea is just one of tnem.

But as long as Singaporeans continue to be competitive and aggressive towards other and becoming less heedful and considerate as a result, it is very unlike we will become a first world society and our dream of becoming a gracious society is all but a dream. I am sure there third world countríes with first world graciousness.

As for the two who shouted at me just now, they are making a lot of noise while I, at my corner, have not uttered a single word since the unfortunate incident.